Food For the Strong

[somanytattoos]

 Characters: Viper, Duo
Content: Finding herself in Unreal, Viper seeks solace by stuffing her face on cake. Duo is suitably disturbed. 

Where: Cafeteria
When: Afternoon after the challenge

Warnings: Viper being her crazy cannibal self.
 Viper was understandably upset about finding herself in a new place. However, unlike most of the other

Comments

[crossandscythe]

Duo Maxwell had wandered about angrily for a while, then finally given up and gone to look for food. He was still shaken and angry about the competition; the memory of the dirt against his face, his blood pooling around him, his vision growing dark, was still very much with him, and he wondered if he would be able to sleep very well for the next few nights.

He entered the cafeteria and stopped short, eyes going wide as he took in the sight before him. He had seen they were bringing in new people, and this one was definitely new. He would so remember meeting her. He eyed her a bit warily as he approached; he might have chosen to come back later but he was actually rather hungry.

[somanytattoos]

The cake took most of her attention, but not all of it. Viper's eyes snapped up when someone walked in. A boy. She didn't know him. The clothes he wore were clean and almost new. They fit him well. Her eyes narrowed, and she set the green plate down. People with nice clothes were trouble. The last group she had met had come from over the wall and killed a large number of her friends.

No one who wasn't expendable, of course. Everyone was expendable, when it all came down. Even her. Even Sol. If one of them died, another scavenger would take over and lead the band.

Still, outsiders were bad. Even though the situation was different now.

Viper wiped frosting off her mouth and then pushed herself up, leather creaking with the motion and steel clicking. Unlike the boy across from her, she had made her clothes, all of them. She cocked her head at him, openly curious and openly suspicious.

But not hostile. Not yet.

[crossandscythe]

It was fortunate, perhaps, that Duo had been rather feral himself once, way back when, because he instinctively on some level recognized the way she looked at him, and it made him freeze.

Wow, that was one scary looking lady. His eyes widened as she stood. "Uh, hey," he said, a bit carefully. "I was uh, looking for some grub. How's the cake?"

[somanytattoos]

Viper had been told she had a beautiful voice, low and husky in all the right ways and none of the wrong ones. She rarely screamed, rarely spoke when it wasn’t necessary. It was much easier to communicate through gestures and actions. Words could get complicated, the meanings tangled up in themselves. Actions were harder to misunderstand.

The boy stopped a safe distance away. She shrugged at the question, and cracked her knuckles. Another gesture, another warning to him that Viper was tough, that Viper was dangerous. “Edible,” she said, sounding far too refined for her leather clothes and heavily tattooed face.

Sol called her cultured. Viper didn’t really know what that meant.

She took a step in the boy’s direction, moving her head from side to side, away from the table. It wasn’t solely her food, but he didn’t know that.

[crossandscythe]

Her voice, that one word, didn't seem to match the person who spoke. Duo smiled, deciding to play it cool for the moment. "Well good," he quipped. "I guess it wouldn't be much use if it wasn't, huh?"

Should he be nice? There was one tattooed, leather-clad reason not to, but no one could accuse him of being unfriendly. "You new here?" he asked conversationally.

[somanytattoos]

She would have eaten it even if it hadn't been good. Anything was better than starving, and Viper had learned to eat whenever she had food, because she might not find any later. She didn't say that, though, only shrugged and smiled, baring her teeth.

At the second question, Viper nodded in assent. New. What did that mean? Where there others here? Was Sol here? She hoped Sol was here. "Yes," she said. "Will there always be food?"

If the answer was no, then Viper wasn't going to share with him. She had found the cake first, and was in no way unwilling to fight for it.

[crossandscythe]

Duo understood that question, whether she knew he understood or not.

"Yeah," he said. "As long as I've been here, there's been food. Not always cake, but there's always something." He gestured towards the kitchen and the large buffet in front of it, which at mealtime would be filled with various interesting dishes.

Her smile was somewhat unnerving. Why did he feel like she was picturing him with frosting? He chuckled uncomfortably. "They take pretty good care of us here. I guess they want to keep us happy."

[somanytattoos]

One problem solved. Food was very important. Viper knew she would die without it. The fact had been proven too many times over back in Glasgow.

She eyed the boy. She would kill for food, too. Such was the nature of scavengers, and Viper might as well have been their queen. She was Sol's second in command, and perhaps might have been his wife, if they had understood the full meaning of the term.

And then he spoke of the people in charge, the people who had brought her here, who had fed her and taken her away from her home.

Cake didn't make up for that. She would have refused if it had been offered in trade, but the option hadn't been given. It had just happened.

"Happy," Viper mused. "Why?

What was the intention?

[crossandscythe]

Might as well just explain the deal as he saw it.

"Because we're the stars of their little show," he said, the cynicism creeping into his voice. "We've been brought here to compete in various contests, for the entertainment of some unseen audience." He took a step towards her without realizing it; his brain often shut off when he opened his mouth. "They didn't ask any of us. We're all in the same boat. I mean they treat us nice but this last competition I was pretty much dead." He winced at remembered pain.

[somanytattoos]

Viper narrowed her eyes at the boy when he took a step towards her. A show of aggression was a more pressing issue than the things he was telling her, and one that would have to be met and countered. Such was her way. Such was the way of the world. Swaying her hips, Viper advanced as well, a certain light in her eyes promising a hard fight if that was what he wanted. Her boots clicked against the floor, a harsh sound

[crossandscythe]

Duo froze, realizing too late that perhaps he should have been more cautious. Ah well. Acting like a coward wasn't going to score him any points. That smile, though...it took all he had to keep from stepping away. He knew the smile he returned was less confident than hers.

"Yeah, that's what we've all been saying," he replied. "But so far we haven't figured what to do about it."

[somanytattoos]

So many things she didn't understand, dancing around this strange place that didn't have any edges. Maybe the edges weren't the literal ones, Viper thought. Maybe the sharp pieces were all in their heads, made from fear and the emotions that created fear in others--anger, hatred, love, and of course, fear. Fear made for more fear.

"What kind of entertainment?" she asked, falling back on her beautiful voice to protect her, to keep the information from running away.

She was not afraid. Viper decided that this place might do a great many things to her, but she wouldn't become afraid of it. She would die before getting to that place.

[crossandscythe]

Her voice belied her posture. She was sort of interesting, if terrifying beyond all reason. "Well," Duo said thoughtfully, rubbing his head, "It's like, we play games. On teams, you know? This last one was king of the mountain. But we were given weapons and it got pretty nasty. And supposedly there was someone watching, though I didn't see an audience or cameras or anything."

[somanytattoos]

Games. Viper’s lip curled. So it was to be the unwilling entertainment, as she had hoped it would not be. Of all the things she would have hated, this was slightly less than the worst. She was not a dog, to be taught to dance on its hind legs before being eaten.

He said weapons and gained Viper’s full attention, though it probably wasn’t appreciated. With her muscular build and unbridled aggression, Viper was intimidating. With her tattoos and crown of porcupine spikes in her hair, she was downright frightening in appearance. The combination of the two was meant to be harsh.

“Perhaps you should explain,” she said, ever so softly, “where my blades went.”

[crossandscythe]

Duo edged back the slightest bit, without meaning to. "Uh, I don't know," he admitted. "Same place as my guns, I would guess. They take our weapons until the competition. Lucky there doesn't seem to be anything around here we need them for."

[somanytattoos]

Viper lowered her head and advanced when he retreated, gaining ground when it was given. If it came to that, she would take it by force, but it hadn’t gone that far yet. In time it probably would, but she could be patient when it suited her. When there was a reason and a reward at the end, to be given to the strongest fighter, the best survivor